“Tesla is committed to expanding its domestic manufacturing, including Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, regardless of the solar tariff decision today.”

Tesla partnered with Panasonic at the factory. The Japanese electronics giant has been manufacturing solar modules at the plant since this summer, but they have been using solar cells imported from their overseas factories, which means that those panels will be partly affected by the new tariff.

They plan to ramp up production to at least 1 GW of annual capacity in order to support their own solar projects.

Electrek’s Take

We expect that once Panasonic is producing solar cells in volume at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2, the new tariff will actually become a competitive edge for Tesla. However, the company will be negatively affected by the tariff in the short-term since it still relies on imported panels for most of its solar installations.

As we reported yesterday, we expect that the new tariff will result in a moderate increase in price for some residential projects, but it could quickly be absorbed as the market adapts to the new regulations.